With my RT settings on low quality/quarter frame rate I can just about play individual shots in the timeline. However the whole trailer won't play in real time, front to back. I tried exporting it to QT as self-contained (18 gigs) & non self-contained (400 megs) but these files also choke my Quicktime player -- they freeze on first frame.

Since I don't have access to other files, should I transcode the footage to another codec for offline work? If so, which? The DVC Pro HD is color corrected, but looking more compressy than the raw footage. I'd hate to have to color grade the former (not my forte).

Can a transcode be performed in media manager, or will I have to use Compressor? And is there a way to link back to the high-quality files for final output? I'd hate to deliver anything lower than necessary.

Where is this footage stored? Uncompressed HD video takes up a LOT of drive speed to play. Talking 5 drive RAID with 220MB/s or MORE...just to play. This is why ProRes was made...compressed so it has a lower data rate, yet still has the uncompressed quality.

You need a serious RAID array to play that back (eSATA or better yet, miniSAS...5 drives or more)...or you need to convert everything to ProRes 422.